Hashtag King Makes Worldstar Hip Hop Front Page

Last week he was the foul-mouthed asshole trying to hawk his watches to continue playing poker against the likes of Doug Polk and Shaun Deeb, this week it’s a starring role on ‘WorldStarHiphop’ as… a foul-mouthed asshole trying to worm his way out of an $80 dinner bill. Yep, you’ve guessed right, it’s Salomon Ponte, the self-styled Hashtag King and the world’s most ignorant poker player!

Ponte is quickly making a name for himself as the most broke and least likeable poker player since, well, forever, and his latest rabid rant sees him abusing the owners and staff of Pot Liquor restaurant and bar after they demand he pays his dinner and drinks bill.

But Ponte is not alone in his quest for free food and attention-whoring, his sometime buddy UFC brawler and The Ultimate Fighter contestant  Julian Lane hanging around in the background as Ponte struts his horrible stuff – and then actually uploads it to YouTube himself for all to see, one comment summing up the entire ghastly episode:

"Racist, homophobic, deadbeat asshole promotes his stupidity to the world. Amazing."

For those (lucky) individuals who missed ‘HashTagKing’ Ponte’s appearance on last weekend’s Poker Night in America show form Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma you can read my article about it here, but again a one-line summary suffices to describe Ponte’s actions…

“What a ****show. Disgusting. What picture of the sport does this show paint to the casual viewer? Why not have some class on the show? Some sportsmanship?”

The Canadian first came to public prominence when he binked the $1100 WPT Deepstacks in Hollywood, Florida last January for $344,420, but since then he has started to believe his own hype, despite very little success, and now considers himself to be a major player.

The WSH video, however, seems to represent everything that is wrong with the man – racist abuse, an inability to listen to anyone else, a ‘friend’ who threatens to knock him out if he doesn’t get the camera-phone off him and the same ‘I’m waiting for a wire’ line which saw him bust out of the PNiA game and get banned from the casino and hotel for not paying his bill!

Of course, the guy may have serious mental problems - and perhaps giving him the air-time he craves is a bad idea too – but for the time being, the Hashtag King is, unfortunately, newsworthy. Whether it’s for himself or the game of poker, whoever said there is no such thing as bad publicity had obviously never met Salomon Ponte.